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"Lacan's style is - notoriously - as complicated as his ideas. But Fink's translation helps to make 'the mirror stage', 'transference' and 'psychical causality' understandable, if not readily approachable. It is worth the effort: both yours and that put in by the translator and publisher." Margaret Reynolds, The Times"
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Brilliant and innovative, Jacques Lacan's work lies at the epicentre of modern thought about otherness, subjectivity, sexual difference, the drives, the law and enjoyment. This new translation of his complete works offers welcome, readable access to Lacan's seminal thinking on diverse subjects touched upon over the course of his inimitable intellectual career.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
20 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Its only about a year since I started reading Lacan, and at first was quite overwhelmed with the elusiveness of his prose (and seminars). But it pays to be patient with him, and Bruce Fink's translation of the Écrits are a definite help! Though not always the exact word-by-word rendition of the French, his style gives Lacan's prose a flow, which is usually so difficult to sustain in translation (and especially of Lacan!) Makes it a pleasure to read, especially given Lacan's wit now also takes a finkish dimension! But for you purists (and everyone else too), don't miss out on the translator's end-notes, which help a lot with Lacan's oh so elusive allusions, and also comment on the multiple meanings the polyvalent text of Lacan can take.
And of course, this is the only complete translation of the Écrits available for English speakers!
And of course, this is the only complete translation of the Écrits available for English speakers!
3 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The book is fine and beautifully produced. The paper quality is high and the whole package is very neat. However, this is not a translation but a transliteration. Sadly, perhaps for fear of not doing justice to Lacan, the translator has put French words into English words, phrase for phrase.
Lacan is hard enough to understand at the best of times but the literal, word for word, English version makes it all but impossible. Better to learn French and read the original Ecrits.
Lacan is hard enough to understand at the best of times but the literal, word for word, English version makes it all but impossible. Better to learn French and read the original Ecrits.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
5 reviews
49 of 51 people found the following review helpful
Excellent translation
3 Mar 2007
Format:Paperback
This is a treat - the first complete English translation of Lacan's Ecrits with a wonderful translation by Bruce Fink. After reading a couple pieces, I compared with Sheridan's previous partial translation and found a number of differences. Overall, Fink tends to be more readable and, I suspect, accurate.
Since you're probably already aware of Lacan's thought and importance, I won't go into that here and will restrict my comments to this particular edition. Fink provides endnotes on the translation of certain difficult words and explains how he dealt with them, sometimes with specific examples for particularly tricky sections. It's clear that he understands Lacan's text inside and out. Additionally, his endnotes prove very helpful in understanding some of the German and Latin in Lacan's writing. Because I'm not an expert in psychoanalysis, I found Fink's explanations of certain terms and ideas very helpful.
Lacan provides an index of major concerts, but this was a bit different than what I was expecting. Rather than explicitly stating "The Symbolic Order means . . . ", he gives a general area where the read is encouraged to discover its essence. This is, all things considered, probably a better way to handle the situation for, as we know, Lacan's concepts do not fit into neat little summaries or paraphrases.
Overall, Norton did a great job putting this together. Provided you have the time to sit down and really spend some time with these essays, I definitely recommend this. Even if you don't always agree with Lacan's thought, Ecrits provides some excellent mental stimulation
Since you're probably already aware of Lacan's thought and importance, I won't go into that here and will restrict my comments to this particular edition. Fink provides endnotes on the translation of certain difficult words and explains how he dealt with them, sometimes with specific examples for particularly tricky sections. It's clear that he understands Lacan's text inside and out. Additionally, his endnotes prove very helpful in understanding some of the German and Latin in Lacan's writing. Because I'm not an expert in psychoanalysis, I found Fink's explanations of certain terms and ideas very helpful.
Lacan provides an index of major concerts, but this was a bit different than what I was expecting. Rather than explicitly stating "The Symbolic Order means . . . ", he gives a general area where the read is encouraged to discover its essence. This is, all things considered, probably a better way to handle the situation for, as we know, Lacan's concepts do not fit into neat little summaries or paraphrases.
Overall, Norton did a great job putting this together. Provided you have the time to sit down and really spend some time with these essays, I definitely recommend this. Even if you don't always agree with Lacan's thought, Ecrits provides some excellent mental stimulation
15 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Mission impossible?
18 Oct 2008
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
When you take an erudite French psychoanalyst, who is presenting his take on Freud's German by pressing it through the sieve of French semiotics, one can only hope for so much when that text is then further strained by being pressed into English. A number of these "writings" were originally lectures, meant to be experienced in Lacan's own idiosyncratic delivery (you can enjoy him on YouTube, if you're curious). All this is a way of saying reading Lacan in English is far from a simple or direct thing. Bruce Fink has probably achieved as close to a "clear" translation as the original will allow. One needs to acknowledge that there are concepts that are perfectly clear in French that are a muddle in English, so when you have someone as full of himself as Lacan, that gets pretty intense sometimes. Then Lacan will suddenly engage an unexpected metaphor, or display a moment of real wit, and you forgive his pretentiousness. An influential thinker, and for those of us who haven't mastered French, we can be grateful that Monsieur Fink chose to accept this mission.
7 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Lacan is heavy stuff
18 July 2009
Format:Paperback
Jacques Lacan is one of the most influential writers of the twentieth century. However, his work has largely been unavailable to the English-speaking world, until this version of his work came out. Bruce Fink does a fantastic job with the translations and the background information, but that does not make Lacan any less dense.
If you're looking for an introduction to Lacan, check out Slavoj Zizek's works. They're much more readable and easy to understand. For those of stouter constitution though, pick up Fink's translation of Lacan's Ecrits and fasten your seatbelt.
If you're looking for an introduction to Lacan, check out Slavoj Zizek's works. They're much more readable and easy to understand. For those of stouter constitution though, pick up Fink's translation of Lacan's Ecrits and fasten your seatbelt.
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